Pages

Thursday, July 31, 2014

The Gradual psalms, Psalms 119 to 133, were pilgrim songs that were probably originally sung on the journey to Jerusalem and as the pilgrims ascended each of the fifteen steps of the Temple at Jerusalem at the three major feasts of the Jewish calendar when all males were required to travel to Jerusalem. Although they certainly can be given a literal context, they seem always to have been interpreted as a mystical ascent to heaven as well.

I want, in this series, to consider the Gradual Psalms from three closely related perspectives: firstly in the context of Scripture; secondly as part of a devotional tradition with ancient roots; and thirdly as they are used in the Benedictine form of the Office.

These three perspectives are not, of course, completely unrelated; far from it. All the same, it is, I think, helpful to tease them out separately before looking at the psalms individually.

The Gradual psalms were appropriated for Christian use very early however, and are traditionally sung as a group at penitential times of the year and for the dead. Most of the Fathers see them as tracing the mystical ascent of the Christian in the spiritual life: they show us how to climb Jacob’s ladder to heaven and grow in virtue.

Below is the text of the Gradual Psalms in Latin and English (Douay-Rheims), organised as they are traditionally said as a devotion, as three groups of five psalms, with short prayers in between each set.

The first five are traditionally offered for the dead, and are said without antiphon or Gloria Patri. The second and third set are offered for the living.

I: For the dead

[Psalm 119]

1 Ad Dóminum cum tribulárer clamávi: * et exaudívit me.

In my trouble I cried to the Lord: and he
heard me.

2 Dómine, líbera ánimam meam a lábiis
iníquis, * et a lingua dolósa.

2 O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked
lips, and a deceitful tongue.

3 Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponátur
tibi * ad linguam dolósam?

3 What shall be given to you, or what
shall be added to you, to a deceitful tongue?

Let us pray: Deliver, we beseech Thee, O
Lord, the souls of Thy servants and handmaids, and all the faithful departed
from the bonds of their sins: grant that they may live and breathe again in a
glorious resurrection among all Thy Saints and Elect.Through
Christ our Lord.R.Amen.

Let us pray:
O God, whose property is always to have mercy and to spare, receive our
petitions, and grant that we and all Thy servants who are bound by the chain
of sin, may, by the compassion of Thy goodness, mercifully be absolved.
Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.